Winter Tales
by PendragonStark7
Summary: A collection of fictions of Arwen in the wintertime. I know I have lots of stories going on but I wanted to publish this and it will be updated when I update it. Hope you like these!


**I know...I know...I have so many unfinished stories that need completion...but I just had this in my mind and its the perfect time of year for it. Its sort of Christmasy but not really...but its Camelot in the snow so that seems like the perfect time to publish this. Dont worry its a one shot...maybe an epilogue...but for now a one shot...**

**PS- I meant to post this during Christmas...ops**

**ENJOY!**

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><p>Guinevere's stomach growled hungrily as she sat in her small house shivering against the chill of the cold weather. A month had passed since Uther raised the taxes and into the second month of winter, the cold blizzards were horribly brutal knocking houses down and leaving the towns people hungry and cold. So Guinevere had chosen to cut back on her own needs to help anyone she could, but as a result she had cold nights of freezing weather and going to bed hungry.<p>

She shivered again thinking of Merlin and how he'd told her to speak with Arthur about her problem for the past few days but Guinevere refused not wanting to add to his worries or responsibilities. She jumped in alarm hearing a loud bang and seeing her door crash to the ground bringing in the chilled air and unwanted snow into the house, covering the floor. "N-n-no, n-n-not n-now," she chattered.

Guinevere then slipped on her boots and headed towards the doorway to attempt to put the door back in place. It would not budge with the snow piling in, now an inch deep on her floor, and chilling her body to the bone. Sighing with frustration Guinevere sunk to the ground wrapping her arms around herself beginning to cry as the snow piled in faster and higher.

"W-Why d-d-does th-this h-h-happ-pp-pen to m-me. I m-m-must g-g-get o-o-out of h-h-here," she chattered. Standing up she slipped her thin cloak over her shoulders before opening the door and heading out into the cold night. She shivered some more as the wind whipped the snow around her making her even colder.

As Guinevere made her way through the castle she headed up to the physicians chambers hoping that Merlin could help her. When she got there she gave a brief knock on the door and hoped that Merlin or Gaius was awake. She stood there for a moment shivering as the door swung open revealing Merlin's sleepy face.

His eyes widened as he saw her standing there before him crying, wet, and shivering. "Gwen?" He mumbled pulling her in the room. "What are you doing here at this time of night? Gosh your freezing," he said pulling her into a hug.

"M-m-Merlin can I s-s-stay h-here to-n-n-night?" Gwen said shuttering some more. "M-m-my f-f-front d-d-door f-fe-fell over an-and s-s-snow is c-c-coming th-th-through the h-h-house." Guinevere flinched as she bit her tongue from chattering as another bout of shivers came upon her body.

Merlin frowned and then grabbed her hand and led her out of the room. "Come on Gwen," he said firmly dragging her along the corridor. "I will not allow you to freeze to death so I'm going to do something about it" Merlin said with determination leading her down the familiar corridors. Guinevere froze realizing where Merlin was taking her.

"N-n-no M-m-Merlin, n-n-no I won't t-t-tell him. I won't," she said struggling against his hold as they neared his chambers.

"Gwen your freezing cold and starving. When he finds out he'd have my head because I didn't do anything to help you. You have to tell Arthur or...or I will tell him for you, in which case my head would be saved and yours...well no matter how mad the prat gets he could never be upset with you." She was about to object that it was not necessary and she did not need help but Merlin saw right through her. "Gwen you are going to tell him now. You need help, just accept it for once. Your always looking after other people and their needs but your a person too Gwen" Merlin said reaching up to knock on Arthur's door.

When no one came Merlin knocked really loudly and then ran, leaving a shivering cold Guinevere standing at the door. She stood there a moment longer before sighing heavily and began to walk towards Morgana's chambers to do early morning work. If Arthur was asleep she had no business waking him up but she was not going back home.

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><p>Arthur Pendragon shivered slightly feeling the pains of hunger going through his body. A loud knocking sound suddenly awoke him from his slumber. "Wh-What?" Arthur whispered sitting up in bed and shivering a little pulling his covers back over his body. Frowning Arthur heard the knocking sound again as well as his own stomach growling.<p>

Laying back down Arthur listened quietly not hearing anything else. "Must've been a dream" he mumbled sleepily closing his eyes. He then sighed heavily hopping up and walking over to his wardrobe throwing on a tunic and boots, along with his thick winter Pendragon cloak. Slowly walking to the door Arthur stepped out of his room and groggily made his way to the kitchens.

While walking down the corridors Arthur froze hearing soft foot faults down to the left of him. "Huh?" He whispered following the noise and turned a corner seeing a woman walking down the hall. Arthur's eyes widened recognizing her small frame, that curly brown hair and purple dress anywhere. "Guinevere?" he asked confused moving faster and trying to catch up with her.

Arthur stopped in his tracks seeing her pause and turn around to face him, her head down. He frowned as he noticed her body was shaking. "Are you alright?," he asked walking over to her and laid his hand on her cheek. He jumped back slightly, wide awake now feeling the coldness of her face. "Guinevere, your freezing. What happened?" Arthur asked with concern pulling off his cloak and wrapping it around her shoulders.

He felt her pull away and shake her head, "I-I'm f-f-fine M-My L-L-Lord, n-nothi-ing to w-worry a-ab-about..." she trailed off as her stomach gave a loud growl. "S-S-Sorry I sh-should b-be g-g-going" Guinevere said with embarrassment refusing to meet his eyes and tried pulling away again.

"No...Guinevere you can tell me" Arthur said gripping her a little tighter while gently pulling her into his chest. He felt her resist at first and then comply rushing into his arms and burrowing her face into his warmth. He then felt her shakes turn into sobs as she clutched herself closer to him holding on as if her life depended on it. "Come on Guinevere let's go warm you up" Arthur whispered soothingly rubbing her back and holding her close.

"A-a-Arthur, y-y-you don't h-h-have to help m-m-me. M-m-Merlin brought me here and," Guinevere began to protest.

"No excuses Guinevere," Arthur interrupted. "You are shivering and almost frozen solid, you need to warm up. Now come on love" he said wrapping an arm around her and leading her to his chambers.

Guinevere nodded in agreement keeping close to Arthur as he began to walk her back to his chambers. Once there Arthur lead her over to his changing area and pushed her behind it. "Get out of your wet clothes and I will find something warmer for you" he whispered silently kissing her cheek and walking over to his dresser.

Guinevere went over in a daze, _Arthur asked her to take her clothes off in his room, what was he thinking._ Arthur's hand appeared over the changing divider with a red tunic and a pair of breeches in his hands. "Here Guinevere put these on," he said handing her the clothes. She grabbed them and then began to change, _at least he is honorable _she thought sticking on the clothes. She shivered as she pulled the tunic on and then moved to the pants. "A-a-Arthur the p-p-pants are too l-l-long," she chattered as she pulled on the pants which were way to big and way too long.

There was a silence as she stood there listening. _Did Arthur leave? _ She thought peaking her head around the corner. She gasped as Arthur was nowhere in sight, "Arthur?" she called again, looking around the room. Guinevere sighed and then folded the pants up and walked around the room in Arthur's tunic and pendragon red cloak wrapped around her, looking for him

"Arthur? Arthur? Oh Merlin I-I-I'm going to k-k-kill you," she mumbled under her breath.

"Why are you going to kill Merlin?," a voice asked. Guinevere jumped in the air and spun around to see Arthur standing there with a smile on his face.

"A-a-Arthur you s-s-scared m-m-me," she chattered still feeling cold.

"Sorry Guinevere," Arthur said moving over to her and taking her into his arms, attempting to warm her up even more. "Guinevere why are you so cold?" he asked rubbing her arms.

"U-Um...well...m-my door sort of...crashed..." she whispered her eyes looking down.

"Guinevere in case you didn't notice the whole of Camelot is covered with snow. But that does not explain why you are almost frozen solid. Don't you have a fireplace?" Arthur asked not understanding her words.

"Y-y-yes Arthur. I have a fireplace," Guinevere said speaking clearly for the first time all night.

"But then..."

"Oh my god Arthur!" snapped Guinevere turning her face to look up at him and shrugging out of his embrace "yes I'm cold and yes I have a fire place. But unlike you of have to pay for my firewood it actually costs money."

Arthur frowned,"I still don't understand don't you get paid for working in the castle? What do you do with that money?"

"I'm sorry Arthur that I spend my money on food instead firewood but I can't afford everything to be comfortable. You have to make some sacrifices, and that's what I did but I can barely get by as it is because your father raised the bloody tax not even caring about the rest of us." Guinevere fumed staring at Arthur, she let out a small sob and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry Arthur I did not mean to speak to you that way. Please forgive me," she whispered feeling guilty.

Arthur stared off into space, shocked at what Guinevere just told him. Deciding to give her more warmth, he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and just held her not knowing what to say. "W-when did my father raise the taxes? Why didn't you tell me?" He asked finally.

"I was going to tell you but when I went to tell you..."

**Guinevere's memory A week ago...**

_It was the midevening and she was making her way to Arthur's chambers. She approached the cracked open door when she heard him speak. She flinched against the chill in the air but even more so at what she was hearing._

_Arthur's voice ran her head, "now my father has asked me to lead even more patrols, in this weather. I already have enough on my plate without having to deal with border disputes, council meetings and training the knights and on top of that the townspeople are complaining about the weather to my father every other hour. I'm cold, I need something warmer please help me. Really they have homes, fires, food, warmth, so why need help from us? Why if I hear one more person complain I will throw them in the stocks."_

_Guinevere froze outside the door hand raised ready to knock. She looked up to see Merlin nodding his head to Arthur, and mumbling in agreement. He nodded again looking towards the door, catching sight of Guinevere standing outside the prince's chambers shivering. Guinevere then lowered her hand looking sadly in Merlin's eyes and turning around leaving the hallway and headed back to her cold home outside._

_Tears streaked her cheeks seeing the truth in Arthur's words. She thought she could rely on him, depend on him to help her, but hearing that she felt guilty more than ever. If other people did not get help from the royals why should she get it?_

**Back in the present**

Guinevere let go of Arthur stepping away from him, recalling the memory. She shivered, holding the cloak around her shoulders and looked away from Arthur's face, refusing to meet his eyes. "You sounded so stressed out and hated the complaining about all the trouble the people were having. I-I did not want to speak to you because your right, we do have homes with some warmth and we do have food..." her voice trailed off as her stomach gave a growl echoing through the room.

Arthur was now confused and stepped forward laying his hand on her shoulder and lifted her face to look up at him. "Guinevere what are you a talking about? When did I say something like that?"

"About a week ago. You were complaining to Merlin about...the people and your duties border disputes, leading more patrols, and on top of that the people were complaining about being cold and hungry asking you for help. You told Merlin that the next person who complains will be punished and thrown in the stocks...you recall these words now?" She snapped, lowering her eyes and stepping away from him again.

Arthur was frozen into place recalling the conversation that he angrily rambled about to Merlin last week. "Y-you heard that?" Arthur said not being able to find the words to say anything else.

"E-every word, my lord," Guinevere mumbled shrugging out of the cloak and made her way back to the changing area. "I am sorry to have troubled you my lord, I will grab my stuff and leave. I'm sorry to have come to you."

"Guinevere, don't go. I'm sorry, I had no idea that my father raised taxes. I was selfish and did not think to check or even bother to ask. And I had so much on my mind I finally lost it. I... I am so sorry you had to see me like that on my worst day of the week," Arthur said running to her and took her hands on his.

"Arthur, I am taking up your relax time from sleeping. I should not be here and you should be resting. I will just go to Merlin's for the evening, I forgive you but I will not take up any more of your time, I'm sorry."

"Guinevere stop it. Your not going anywhere," Arthur grumbled pulling her in a tight grip against him. "Especially not to Merlin."

"Huh, Arthur I shouldn't be here though. What would your father think?" Guinevere said sadly leaning into him and holding herself closer to him.

"I'm sorry Guinevere that I was selfish. But I can't let you leave now. Just come to bed with me...um I mean come stay with me. I mean..." Arthur rambled trailing off as Guinevere kissed his lips silencing him.

"I know what you mean Arthur," Guinevere said taking his hand as he lead her to the bed. In no time at all the young couple was curled up together in Arthur's large bed snuggled close and intertwined with one another fast asleep on that cold winter's night.

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><p><strong>I meant to post this during the holidays but just didn't get to it because I have been busy updating my other stories. I hope you like this and this might be a collection of fanfictions with Arwen and the seasons or during the wintertime because I have quite a few ideas that go along with this :)<strong>


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